In only a matter of time, the surrounding environment is destroyed, natural sources become contaminated and useless, the temperature drops, and suddenly winter is paying a lingering visit. A nuclear winter. It is a definite possibility in today’s society, a thought that casts shivers down spines. It is the topic that is being addressed by Walter Van Tilburg Clark in his short story, “The Portable Phonograph”, and it is the possible occurrence that is being assessed by James Roberts in the article “How to Survive Nuclear Winter”. In the short story, a group of four men is forced to survive during a nuclear winter, and they have been for a certain period of time. So far, the men have found sources that they can live off of, however, the primary …show more content…
struggle is finding a way to entertain themselves in order to remain sane during the drastic era. The article, on the other hand, presents a realistic set of hypotheses given by actual scientists who are addressing the possibilities. Taking into account both pieces of information, it is made possible to assess what an actual nuclear winter would be like, and what is necessary for survival. Using common knowledge, most people are aware that there are definite necessities that are vital for survival.
It has been said that in harsh environments, such as one forged from a nuclear war, the nuclear winter, you may only last three hours without a proper shelter. To add to the previous statement, it is a known fact that one can not survive longer than approximately three days without water, therefore making the resource a top priority. Luckily for the men in “The Portable Phonograph”, they had a “creek...already silent under ice. In the bank above it was dug a sort of cell” (Clark, 1941, p. 178). They used the cell as shelter from the extreme temperatures of the outdoors, and the creek a nearby source of water. However, even though they have shelter and water, the percentage of survival remains meager. The article suggests to “have emergency heating supplies on hand…[along with] appropriate clothing” (Roberts, 2007, p. 2). In an attempt to preserve “the precious remnants of wood, old fence posts and timbers from the long-deserted dugouts,” (Clark, 1941, p. 178), the men settled with petty warmth provided by blocks of peat. Not to mention, there would also be an extensive dilemma to find food, as the diversity of the environment would be so dominant that it could be close to impossible to grow a single seed in the earth. Considering what was previously addressed, the short story “The Portable Phonograph” has no true reference to what the men were feeding off of. The reason being, the short story is focused on a more concrete topic, creating entertainment in order to preserve a clear grasp on
sanity. Each individual human being can simply linger on the physical necessities for a certain amount of time. Remaining physically healthy must also be balanced with being emotionally healthy. “The Portable Phonograph” portrays the four survivors attempting to seize a sliver of entertainment in order to continue the upcoming week with a moderately sane state of mind. One of the four had kept a phonograph, and that day, they chose to listen to a song together. They sat down, beside the fire; “in all the men except the musician, there occurred rapid sequences of tragically heightened recollection” (Clark, 1941, p. 182). Surprisingly, the article, “How to Survive Nuclear Winter”, does not address the facts about remaining intact with sanity through entertainment, however, it is an article based on the physical essentials for living, not the emotional essentials. To add to what has been said about the severe, and dynamic society, one of the four men in the short story, who kept the phonograph, also kept a collection of stories that he believed captured the good in the earlier version of society; “‘Shakespeare, the Bible, Moby Dick, The Divine Comedy’...’You will have a little soul left until you die’” (Clark, 1941, p. 179). The final paragraph of the article, “How to Survive Nuclear Winter”, states; “depending on the size of the nuclear conflict, there could be widespread social disorder and chaos” (Roberts, 2007, p. 4), therefore, it was an intelligent act to preserve and cultivate the history of the society that once was. On the whole, surviving a Nuclear Winter implies to be stripped away from what one perceived as routine. Not only that, but surviving in such an extreme environment depends upon a great deal of supplies to remain warm, fed, hydrated, and sane. All in all, these events require thought and preparation, or, in certain cases, luck. After all, change is difficult for some to deal with, although, in this case, the day to day normality will drastically change within hours, leaving one with an absurd amount of time to adjust.
In order to better understand the historical context of nuclear development it seems to me as though Iversen dove into a fair amount of investigative journalism. The book focuses primarily on the events of Rocky Flats and her life through a narrative nonfiction interpretation. By providing a journalist approach, Iversen makes it easy for the reader to build a relationship with the characters presented throughout the book. At times I found myself visualizing the intensity of the fires, the whirlwind of emotions from locals, and the lasting environmental impacts that would not only plague Colorado, but taint the reputation of what it means to be human.
They endured extreme cold weather inside their home. “it got so cold in the house icicles hung from [their] kitchen ceiling. The water in the sink turned into a solid block of ice” (176). That’s not even the worse of it, when the pipes froze like that they had to melt snow and the icicles on their stove for source water. They fought over the dogs too because they kept them warm. The poor children were even force to walk around in their home and go to bed with their coats on (176). Their house was shabbier than ever and falling apart every step they took due to their unfortunate conditions of termites. Also, they had a toilet that didn’t work causing them to throw this waste outside in a hole in the back of their home. Imagine extreme conditions outside and you have to go out there because you have to throw out your waste.
...if it were cut off from power, a cafeteria, EMGOVSITCEN, which stood for Emergency Government Situation Centre, and was meant to be the eye and ears of the outside for the bunker, phone booths, a broadcasting studio, a decontamination center, a health center and confinement area, a dentist office, an emergency escape hatch and an emergency radio.
Settlers maintained their crops and livestock, but while doing so the temperature drops past the freezing point. Children were attending school when the blizzard started to make its way toward the prairie. Unprepared with the proper clothing to at least have a fighting chance to stay warm during the frigid temperatures. These children were without over coats to keep warm, in one situation with two sisters Eda and Matilda, the author wrote “the older sister Eda took off her wrap to cover the younger sister.” (Laskin, 46) Times were very different then they are today, where heavier clothing are required and more available may not have been accessible to the settlers of that time. It was understood that so many children died with only a blanket of some sort, while walking against the heavy winds that was strong enough to rip it from the shoulders of the children. Many of these settlers died because of not dressing for the weather, or not having the resources to make or buy the
has a record player that he brings out once a week for the listening pleasure
This theme describes the inter-related processes by which the partially decrepit and moribund nuclear apparatus is being dismantled, appropriated, recycled, commodified, and memorialized in contemporary culture (e.
Americans had knowledge of the events taking place during the war, but Carson shed a light on the ripple effects that the environment was experiencing. Silent Spring brings the focus to different threats that had arisen because of the war. In a way, Carson places the blame for the deterioration of the environment on mankind as a whole. In the past, wars had been fought without any use of nuclear weaponry. Carson’s writing really emphasizes the fault of mankind’s decision to hurt the environment. “Along with the possibility of extinction of mankind by nuclear war, the central problem of our age has therefore become the contamination of man’s total environment with such substances of incredible potential for harm – substances that accumulate in the tissues of plants and animals and even penetrate the germ cells to shatter or alter the very material of heredity upon which the shape of the future depends.” (Carson, 181). The writing technique Carson uses in Silent Spring has a way of making the reader feel guilty, especially considering that at the time of publication there was so much environmental destruction occurring. Carson’s writing helped to educate the American population of the harm to the environment caused by the Cold War. Because the war’s dangerous strategies provided such a strong backbone for Carson’s argument, the American public was very receptive of the content and themes presented in Silent
“Because the living dead freeze solid” (122), when word starting to get out that there were zombies, people’s first instinct was to go north. Family after family packed their belongings and ventured to campsites throughout northern Canada or wherever they felt was cold enough to escape the plague. Many people were still trying to hold on to their materialistic ways and brought “hair dryers, GameCubes, [and] laptops by the dozen” (123) with them to the campsites. These families realized very quickly that these items were not beneficial for their survival. Those that did survive the cold Canadian winters were not those who brought the most belongings, but those who had the will power to survive. As days got colder, people were forced to steal from each other, kill each other, and eventually eat each other. The only way to succeed during this brutal time was to go into this ultimate survival mode. “Eventually the sun did come out, the weather began to warm, the snow finally began to melt” and those that were left were the ones that were had the determination to survive (129).
Something always curious and provoking happens in science writing. Gwyneth Cravens is an author of five novels and many publications, and one who studies a topic in great detail. She creates an enormous work about nuclear energy for the last decade. Cravens’s research in her last published book titled Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy has led her to do an about-face on the issue. In her article “Better Energy” which was published in May 2008 in Discover magazine, she disputes and claims that nuclear energy is currently best alternative and should be considered as our future energy source. At the beginning “Better Energy” she commences by introducing James Lovelock, who was greatly honored in the green movement for creating the Gaia hypothesis, which combines everything on earth as entirely organic. In the past Lovelock opposed nuclear energy. Unfortunately, to his fans, he changed his views beginning to support nuclear energy. Throughout the article Cravens goes with the explanation how the use of nuclear energy will be able to soft issue about global warming. Current fossil fuel power plants cause serious health problems in thousands of Americans, furthermore, continue to drive the warming. She tries to prove to the audience that currently there is no possibility that U.S. nation can use any of renewable energy sources such as the wind and sun (in which she looks to find common with public views about this case), and that nuclear energy is safe, and this is the best option to get the necessary amount of needed energy.
Nuclear power has always been a controversial issue because of its inherent danger and the amount of waste that the plants produce. Once considered a relatively safe form for generating energy, nuclear power has caused more problems than it has solved. While it has reduced the amount of traditional natural resources (fossil fuels), used to generate power like coal, wood, and oil, nuclear generating plants have become anachronisms. Maintaining them and keeping them safe has become a problem of immense proportion. As the plants age and other technology becomes available, what to do with these “eyesores” is a consuming issue for many government agencies and environmental groups. No one knows what to do about the problem and in many areas of the world, another nuclear meltdown is an accident waiting to happen. Despite a vast array of safety measures, a break in reactor pipe or a leak in a containment vessel, could spell another environmental disaster for the world.
On February 24, 1864 the first two hundred prisoners of Andersonville Prison arrived at the local train station. The prisoners were then led like cattle to the still unfinished pine stockade. When the prisoners entered the stockade they saw a large open area surrounded on three sides by a large pine wall. There were no shelters of any kind to protect the prisoners from the elements. The underbrush had also not been properly cleared out and there was still vegetation on the ground. The food was issued in small rations, and all food was raw. The cookhouse was still unfinished and there were no pots or pans to cook the rations, so the prisoners had to scavenge some firewood and use whatever implements they could find to cook their first meal(Roberts, 26).
When the narrator introduced the main character of the story, the man, he made it clear that the man was in a perilous situation involving the elements. The man was faced with weather that was 75 degrees below zero and he was not physically or mentally prepared for survival. London wrote that the cold "did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man's frailty in general, able only to live within certain narrow limits of heat and cold."(p.1745) At first when the man started his journey to the camp, he felt certain that he could make it back to camp before dinner. As the trip progressed, the man made mistake after mistake that sealed his fate. The man's first mistake was to step into a pool of water and soak his legs to the knees. This blunder forced the man to build a fire to dry his wet socks and shoes so his feet would not freeze and become frostbitten. When the man began to build a fire he failed to notice that he was doing so under a large, snow laden spruce tree where he was getting his firewood. When the man had a small fire that was beginning to smolder the disturbance to the tree caused the snow to tumble to the ground and extinguish the fire. "It was his own fault or, rather, his mistake. He should not have built the fire under the spruce tree. He should have built it in the open."(1750).
Since the dawn of civilization, all living (and some non-living) things have needed energy. When humans discovered fire, the first form of harnessed energy, it made it easier to stay warm, prepare food, make weapons, etc. Since then, humankind has been inventing new ways to harness energy and use it to our advantage. Now-a-days, people in most nations depend extremely heavily on fossil fuels – to work, travel, regulate temperature of homes, produce food, clothing, and furniture, as well as other power industries. Not only are these fossil fuels dominating our society and creating economic vulnerability, but they also produce waste that causes a number of social and environmental concerns. The waste from these fuels leads to acid rain, smog, and climate change. It also releases sulfur dioxide as well as other air pollutants that are very harmful to the human respiratory system (Morris, 1999, p. ix). There are other alternative sustainable energy sources including solar, hydroelectric, wind, and biomass. However, the main source aside from fossil fuel is nuclear energy from controlled nuclear reactions (where nuclei of radioisotopes become stable or nonradioactive by undergoing changes) in a nuclear power plant. Nuclear power produces enormous amounts of energy to serve a community. Unfortunately, nuclear energy has its own set of problems – a big one being its waste. The spent fuel from nuclear plants is radioactive. This means that it emits radiation, or penetrating rays and particles emitted by a radioactive source. Ionizing radiation is known to cause cancer, and therefore makes anyone who lives near spent nuclear waste facilities vulnerable to this incurable disease. The disposal of nuclear waste is a global issue...
Carbon, Max W. Nuclear Power: Villain or Victim?: Our Most Misunderstood Source of Electricity. Second ed. Madison, WI: Pebble Beach, 1997.
The impact of nuclear power on the modern world has improved Various sectors of the economy and society .i.e. Food and Agriculture, Insect control, Food Preservation, Water Resources, Military, Medicine, Research and Industry. “In 1911 George de Hevesy conducted the first application of a radioisotope. At the time de Hevesy was a young Hungarian student working in Manchester with naturally radioactive materials. Not having much money he lived in modest accommodation and took his meals with his landlady. He began to suspect that some of the meals that appeared regularly might be made from leftovers from the preceding days or even weeks, but he could never be sure. To try and confirm his suspicions de Hevesy put a small amount of radioactive material into the remains of a meal. Several days later when the same dish was served again he used a simple radiation detection instrument - a gold leaf electroscope - to check if the food was radioactive. It was, and de Hevesy's suspicions were confirmed.